


though she be but little (she is fierce)

by petit_chou



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: And a fluffy kitten, F/M, Fluff, Timeless Weekly Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 00:05:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11001795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petit_chou/pseuds/petit_chou
Summary: They don’t see her.Until much, much later when one of them does.





	though she be but little (she is fierce)

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, how excited is everyone that we managed to get our show un-cancelled?! It's been almost two weeks and I still can't quite believe it. Fandom high-fives all around!
> 
> When I saw this week's prompt, as both a Lyatt shipper and a Certified Cat Lady, I knew I had to write something. And, well, this is the result.
> 
> For the prompt:  
> A stray kitten shows up at Mason's warehouse and Wyatt is quite taken with it.

She’s very cold.

And hungry.

And she’s alone. 

And she’s scared. Because the world is very, very big, and she is very, very little.

-

She squeezes through the fence that surrounds the very big building. The ground is made of rocks that hurt her paws and there’s very, _very_ big things that move very fast and make a lot of noise and won’t see her because she’s so little.

So she hides.

-

It’s dark now.

Water falls from the sky and makes her fur wet and she is even colder.

And she’s still hungry.

And alone.

And scared.

(And very, very, little.)

-

When it’s light, the water stops falling. The warmth from the sky dries her fur and she’s not cold anymore.

But she’s still hungry.

Lots of humans walk by, going into the big building. They don’t see her. 

Until much, much later when one of them does.

She’s hiding under one of the unmoving, but very big things that must belong to this male human who spots her.

He kneels down and stares at her.

She stares back.

He doesn’t try to touch her, just holds out his hand. She takes a tiny step forward. Then another. She leans in and sniffs cautiously. 

He smells nice. 

(She thinks. She’s not really sure what humans are supposed to smell like.)

She sniffs again then takes another step forward. _Good kitty_ , the human says and though she doesn’t know what that means, he says it in a way that makes her feel safe.

She lets out a _meow_ that really sounds like a _mew_ (the sound is little, like her).

Then she walks closer to the human and rubs her head against his knee. He scratches underneath her chin and she finally climbs into his lap and starts to purr.

The human cradles her against his chest. When he stands, she’s very far off the ground, but she’s somehow not scared. She knows this human won’t drop her or hurt her.

She just hopes he feeds her, because she’s still _really hungry_.

-

The male human is called “Wyatt.” She learns this when he takes her to a place where there are things that meow like her and things that make other loud noises and a human that looks her over while she stands on a cold table as she mews pitifully because she’s still hungry and doesn’t like it here.

After, they go to another place that’s bright and smells kind of like the first place, but the human—Wyatt—carries her and picks up things that seem to be for her and she’s pretty sure one of the those things is food.

And then they go one last place. The human calls it _home_.

He sets her carefully on the floor and she takes a few hesitant steps forward, sniffing whatever’s in reach. The things here smell like him.

And then—finally!—he sets out her food and water and she scurries over before it’s even completely on the floor. She eats every single bite.

When she’s done, she cautiously explores her new space. It’s not very big, but that’s ok. Neither is she. 

She discovers there’s a way for her to look outside while still being inside, and she likes that very much.

When she wanders back to the room where her food is, the human drags something across the floor that jingles and has feathers and she chases it, pounces, attacks it with all her might, which he seems to find very funny.

When he sits down, she climbs up (ok, he helps a little) and settles in his lap. 

She’s no longer cold, or hungry, or scared, but warm, full, and safe. She turns around once or twice, curls up, closes her eyes, and purrs contentedly. 

(She knows his name is Wyatt, but she thinks _my human_ is a pretty good name, too.)

-

The next day, two other humans come over to her new place. Wyatt calls the other male human “Rufus” and the female human “Lucy.” 

She sniffs their hands and lets them pet her and hold her and decides she likes them both. She especially like the one called Lucy who brings her a toy.

(Wyatt already gave her some toys, but a lot of them are under the couch now, so she could use a new one.)

More fun than the toy, however, is a shiny, dangly thing that hangs around Lucy’s neck. Lucy also has much longer hair than either male human, and that’s fun to swipe at, too. Lucy doesn’t seem to mind.

When it gets dark again, Rufus leaves but Lucy stays. 

She sits on the couch between Wyatt and Lucy while they talk, and though she doesn’t understand what they say, they pet her, so she’s happy. 

She can tell that Lucy makes Wyatt happy because when she talks, he shows all his teeth. (She’s learned that humans show their teeth when they’re happy, not because they’re scared or mad. Humans are weird.)

She crawls into her human’s lap when they start laughing and Wyatt picks her up. ( _Cleocatra?! Lucy, that’s perfect. Cleo for short._ ) Both humans laugh again, and even though she doesn’t understand what’s so funny about her new name, she mews in approval, not wanting to be left out. _Cleo_. 

She climbs back out of her human’s lap and settles between them both once more. They go back to talking, but fortunately don’t forget to pet her.

She rests her head on her paws and closes her eyes, purring loudly. 

_Wyatt. Lucy. Cleo._

_Home._

-

Lucy comes over a lot, which makes Cleo happy. It means belly rubs, and cuddles, and toys, and, of course, batting at the dangly thing around her neck. ( _So. Shiny._ ) 

She knows that Wyatt likes it when Lucy comes over, too. Sometimes, though, he has a weird way of showing it. One time, Cleo is sitting between them, and both humans reach out to pet her head, but when their fingers touch, they pull away and look at the floor (which, really, is not that interesting).

But there are times when they sit together and Lucy falls asleep against Wyatt. (Cleo understands. He’s warm and smells nice and she likes to fall asleep on him, too.) Wyatt strokes her hair ( _humans like that too?_ ) and looks at her all silly and happy like he doesn’t want to look away.

-

Sometimes Wyatt has to leave for a little while (the humans apparently call this “work”). Even though another human who lives nearby comes over to feed her, Cleo does not like it when he’s gone. She does, however, like it very much when he comes back, because he’s always happy to see her, and she shows she’s very happy to see him, too, weaving between his legs.

Sometimes when he comes home, Lucy is with him, and this makes Cleo very happy. Rufus is there, too, sometimes, and sometimes there’s another female human who they call “Jiya.”

(Cleo learns that Rufus looks at Jiya just like Wyatt looks at Lucy.

The humans must have a word for this, right?)

-

One day when Wyatt and Lucy come in the door, Cleo can tell something is wrong because they don’t pet her or pick her up like they always do.

Lucy helps Wyatt sit down and Cleo jumps up next to him. She lays down on his lap and purrs because purring calms her when she’s scared or sad so maybe it will help him, too.

Lucy says something to Wyatt who says something back, and though Cleo doesn’t know what the words mean, she can tell that their voices are getting louder. Lucy picks up something and shakes a tiny thing into Wyatt’s hand who puts it in his mouth and makes a face. It must be that thing called “medicine” that Cleo gets when she goes to that place she’s learned is called the “vet.” _Oh_. Humans must hate going to the vet just like she does.

While Cleo eats and plays, Wyatt falls asleep with his head on Lucy’s lap. When Cleo is tired, she jumps on the couch to cuddle with the humans. 

Lucy’s shoulders shake and she has water dripping from her eyes, which Cleo knows is something that means humans are sad. 

She doesn’t know why Lucy is sad, but she does know that she doesn’t want her to be, so she mews until Lucy picks her up. She licks Lucy’s cheeks and then her nose until Lucy laughs. 

Pleased to have made her human happy (because really, Lucy is _her human_ now as much as Wyatt is), Cleo curls up against Lucy’s side.

Lucy pets her with one hand and the other runs through Wyatt’s hair as he sleeps.

(Lucy looks at Wyatt just like he always looks at her.)

-

There’s another time, some days later, when the humans come home and, once again, don’t pet or cuddle Cleo.

She watches them from where she’d been sleeping on the back of the couch, but it seems different than the last time. Neither Lucy nor Wyatt look sad or like they just went to the vet.

Instead, they’re doing a weird thing with their mouths, pressing them together a lot. 

They’re not saying words, but they are making other noises.

Cleo jumps off the couch and follows them down the hall, though they still don’t notice her.

They shut the door, something that Wyatt almost never does. Cleo meows in protest and scratches at the door a little, but they don’t seem to hear her, so she goes back to the other room, happily batting and chasing her catnip mice across the floor.

(She’s surely having much more fun than the humans are anyway.)

-

(She learns that there is a word for that silly way humans look at each other. It’s called “love.”)

-

Something is happening. 

Cleo isn’t sure what, but it must be something important, because Wyatt keeps walking back and forth over and over again, kind of like Cleo does when she’s waiting for someone to come feed her. 

At one point, he picks her up and sets her on the bed, along with a ribbon which Cleo tries to chase until she’s distracted by the sight of something else.

Something shiny. Very, very shiny.

Kind of like the shiny thing around Lucy’s neck that Cleo still likes to swipe at. But not quite the same.

Wyatt holds the shiny thing, just staring at it, until he slides it onto the ribbon, and then carefully ties the ribbon around Cleo’s neck so she can’t actually see it. 

Well, that’s no fun. She lays down.

Wyatt is talking, but not to her, and he keeps kneeling and standing back up again. She’s never seen him do this before and has no idea what this odd human behavior is supposed to mean. 

Maybe she’ll just take a nap.

Cleo wakes to the door opening. Her human’s eyes get really big, kind of like hers when she’s watching birds from the window. _Lucy_ , he says, and she knows that word, so she sits up and follows Wyatt out to the other room.

She watches as the humans do that thing where they press their mouths together (she’s learned it’s a way humans show affection) and then they sit down on the couch.

She watches as they talk (well, Wyatt says things that make Lucy happy and make her laugh) and then he picks Cleo up, and walks back to the couch, but they don’t sit down.

Instead, he does that silly kneeling thing from earlier and hands Cleo over to Lucy as he says something else that makes Lucy’s eyes go very, very wide just like Wyatt’s did before. 

Lucy undoes the ribbon from around Cleo’s neck. _Yes_ , she says. _Yes, Wyatt_ , and he slides the shiny thing onto her finger while Cleo attacks the newly discarded ribbon.

Both of her humans have water dripping from their eyes.

(Maybe that doesn’t just mean “sad.” Maybe it means “happy,” too. 

Humans are so confusing.)

-

They live in a bigger place now.

Cleo is ok with that, because she’s gotten bigger too.

But there’s something else that’s little.

A tiny female human who doesn’t say words yet, but does make a lot of very loud noises.

But those noises sometimes mean she’s hungry, or cold, or scared, so Cleo doesn’t really mind, because she felt that way when she was very small. But Lucy and Wyatt take very good care of the tiny human, just like they take care of Cleo.

And one day, she’ll also get big and brave.

Until then, Cleo will watch out for her, her new human. They call her “Amelia.”

On the couch, Lucy holds Amelia (who also likes to grab the shiny, dangly thing around her neck) and Cleo curls up on Wyatt’s lap. 

She closes her eyes, and purrs softly.

_Wyatt. Lucy. Amelia. Cleo._

_Home._

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still not entirely sure where this came from.
> 
> If you'd like to talk Timeless, Lyatt, cats, or anything else, come say hi [on Tumblr](http://parksandt-rex.tumblr.com/).


End file.
